She’s not a woman as reported in a local newspaper. She’s not a responsible teenager. She’s a cheerleader. She killed someone. She’s a “good person”. And how would you feel if it were your 16 going-on-seventeen year old daughter? You would do all within your means to support her regardless of her actions.
Counterpoint: How would she react if her mother were a victim of the same action by another 16 year old who happened to be fiddling around with a CD player?
Highlight that question before making a comment about forgiving Jordan for an unforgivable act of criminal irresponsibility.
The victim, a homeless woman and of apparent little consequence, is nothing more than a victim of circumstance. I imagine her crime was jaywalking and would be fined for the infraction. But she’s no longer of the living.
Little bitty pretty one, Jordan Valdez, may not get off totally scot-free but for failing to come forth for nothing other than what is apparently deemed little more than poor judgment she may only receive an ineffective slap on the hand for a first-degree felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. No big deal, no prison sentence, just an asterisk in a life where she’ll eventually laugh again and be gainfully employed following a Bright Future scholarship.
The dead woman, Melissa Sjostrom, was only twice Jordan’s age. I guess there’s not much else to be said about the inconsequential life of someone whose last name is difficult to pronounce. Maybe the S is as silent as the voice Melissa? Whatever, right?
Maybe someone is curious to wonder what type of teenager Melissa had been. Maybe someone else is inquisitive enough to ask why she was a homeless nobody? Perhaps someone else would like to find out why her surviving family members hadn’t given her a place to live instead of wandering the streets at 8:30 pm the night of the vehicular incident.
It certainly appears some form of lawful forgiveness of Jordan’s reckless actions was in the making for months. She committed the crime February 8 but didn’t turn herself in to the police until July 9 – five months and one day after the fact. In April she was cited for reckless driving but the case was dropped when the detective didn’t show up to testify! It’s a case of law un-enforcement.
The case was closed until the St. Petersburg Times questioned the investigation of the hit-and-run incident. Otherwise, it would have remained inconsequential and merely an unfortunate incidental. And yet, in a Times editorial, the paper wrote in support of forgiveness, professing “at last justice will be served” because “it would serve no rational purpose to incarcerate a woman whose you life holds the potential for a promising future.”
Jordan is not a woman. Neither is she and adult but, like many other cases that result in the death of a person, she is being charged as an adult. Of course, that could change for whatever purpose and certainly in favor of sparing the her a life from what would otherwise have been considered an unjust future behind bars.
Assuming you don’t subscribe to the Times, the front-page picture on July 10 pictured Jordan with a tight-fitting top with her face positioned partially away from the camera, hair slightly drooping over her left eye with a ponytail hanging pretty. Her mother, Kim, was standing behind her daughter with a supportive look, grinning. The mug shot of Jordan, with the story continued on page 5, showed a very calm and collected girl.
The Tampa Tribune front-page photo showed a different picture – pouty-faced as she was shown being guided by a police officer. It’s probably the only time she has, or will be, seen without a loving, forgiving family member or a lawyers standing protectively by her side.
Below the picture, there was mention that Eddie Suarez, the attorney for Robert Valdez, Jordan’s father, said she was “embarrassed by the fact she panicked and left the scene.”
Embarrassed? Is that a word Jordan will use in a promised letter of apology to Melissa’s family?
Also consider that on-line Internet photos of Jordan that were of a person showing little remorse. In fact, she was no doubt posing for the cameras.
Should I also mention that cheerleading Jordan is a student at the elitist school Academy of the Holy Names? A few Hail Mary’s will absolve her. She lives in a Davis Island neighborhood where home prices range from $500,000 to over $2-million. Jordan spent 20 minutes in jail, a $15,000 bail bond ready to be paid in full – money no object.
Jordan’s attorney, Ty Trayner, may be relishing his representation with grand visions of becoming another Johnny Cochran. A future priced for success.
I seem to have forgotten the name of the victim? But, who really cares?
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
The Idiotocracy In Tallahassee
My hands are shakin’ and my knees are weak. I’m so upset my words are much too black and the mood too bleak. And I’m so pissed off there’s not enough Ditropan in Spring Hill to stem the flow of steamy grief.
Three headlines on the front page of Tuesday’s Tampa Tribune announced ‘GM NOW IN BIG 4’… ‘Vast Atlantic deters search for lost jet’… and the one that momentarily got my interest was ‘Water bill mistakes not drops in bucket’ with the story continued on Page 6. But I never got there because on Page 5, the Metro section, the antithesis of responsibility headlined right before my eyes ‘Crist OKs bill to manage growth”.
It was no consolation whatsoever that just below the big black letters read ‘Critics say measure backed by business will only encourage urban sprawl’. Say what they may, it won’t change the result of the idiotocracy in Tallahassee.
As I stomped along the tile flooring toward the Dell, there was one dude who was surely in a Blaze of Glory. Mr. Politico of the Hernando County GOP had his wildest of dreams come true.
As the Trib’s Metro article read, “Critics said the exemption [from transportation concurrency] will force county commissioners to approve development in areas where roads are clogged”. You can bet your dwindling dollars that a certain number of the Hernando County Board of Commissioners is just as ecstatic as is everyone in the construction industry.
The commissioners might want to begin dialogue on meeting the future roadwork needs of the community. Never mind you people on lime rock roads, give up your cause to eliminate the dusty mucus clogging their nasal passages and the grit that lines the inside of your lungs. Wish you may, wish all you might, nothing good will come from the blight to follow the passage of Senate Bill 360 – a 360-degree circle of ineptitude.
Tweedledee and tweedledum and any other dumb-dumb in support of uncontrolled residential growth are probably rejoicing along with every contractor, subcontractor, real estate broker and real estate agent within the 37 miles east to west and 18 miles north to south that make up the 506 square miles (323,700 acres of land) within the confines of Hernando County.
“More than 300,000 residential units sit empty across Florida, 64,588 properties were in foreclosure last month, second only to Nevada, and real estate prices are still plummeting. State figures show that since 2007, permits have been granted for more than 630,000 new residential units and 480 million square feet of nonresidential space. In most cases the projects are still not built.” That was part of ‘All the News That’s Fit to Print’ in The New York Times on May 20.
In Hernando County, Hickory Hill, Sunrise and Like Hideaway subdivisions were given approval of over 10,000 housing units in 2007.
So now it’ll be up to taxpayers to foot the bill for the building of new and upgraded roads. You can be assured that come January 2011, just after the 2010 General Election, the three-penny Local Option Fuel Tax that was just voted down by the HCBOCC will be approved post haste. The estimated revenue of $1.8M will be desperately needed. Hopefully, the era of a paid county commission will soon come to an end and the savings of over $60,000 (plus benefits) per county commissioner can be redirected toward fulfilling the funding needs of the infrastructure. Any volunteers?
Where does that leave Florida Hometown Democracy, or has it already left the building of responsible, voter-approved growth all dried up in the empty water reservoirs throughout the state? In January I visited the official website just to see what’s up with the cause and found the initiative has a deadpan issue. Their efforts were, and are, needed but what are the chances of voter approval with fat-pocketed lobbyists ready to rehash the mistruths the first time around.
I can foam and froth and exhaust my fumes all day and all night but it’ll be for naught. The death of Florida’s natural wetlands, and the endangered species therein, is a forgone conclusion. The Southwest Florida Water Management District may as well hang up its soggy towel – it’ll dry up as quick as the water table of the Florida Aquifer.
Governor Crist’s bid for the U.S. Senate? Good luck with his efforts, but his signing of SB 360 creates a just cause for Marco Rubio to gain support to thwart Charlie’s seemingly assured nomination for the Republican Party.
The article on Ralph and Diana Salgado’s $21,600 bill for the 3.5 million gallons of water? I have not, and foresee no need to, flip to Page 6 to read more on the situation. It’s not important and the vision of my future in Florida is much too hazy.
Three headlines on the front page of Tuesday’s Tampa Tribune announced ‘GM NOW IN BIG 4’… ‘Vast Atlantic deters search for lost jet’… and the one that momentarily got my interest was ‘Water bill mistakes not drops in bucket’ with the story continued on Page 6. But I never got there because on Page 5, the Metro section, the antithesis of responsibility headlined right before my eyes ‘Crist OKs bill to manage growth”.
It was no consolation whatsoever that just below the big black letters read ‘Critics say measure backed by business will only encourage urban sprawl’. Say what they may, it won’t change the result of the idiotocracy in Tallahassee.
As I stomped along the tile flooring toward the Dell, there was one dude who was surely in a Blaze of Glory. Mr. Politico of the Hernando County GOP had his wildest of dreams come true.
As the Trib’s Metro article read, “Critics said the exemption [from transportation concurrency] will force county commissioners to approve development in areas where roads are clogged”. You can bet your dwindling dollars that a certain number of the Hernando County Board of Commissioners is just as ecstatic as is everyone in the construction industry.
The commissioners might want to begin dialogue on meeting the future roadwork needs of the community. Never mind you people on lime rock roads, give up your cause to eliminate the dusty mucus clogging their nasal passages and the grit that lines the inside of your lungs. Wish you may, wish all you might, nothing good will come from the blight to follow the passage of Senate Bill 360 – a 360-degree circle of ineptitude.
Tweedledee and tweedledum and any other dumb-dumb in support of uncontrolled residential growth are probably rejoicing along with every contractor, subcontractor, real estate broker and real estate agent within the 37 miles east to west and 18 miles north to south that make up the 506 square miles (323,700 acres of land) within the confines of Hernando County.
“More than 300,000 residential units sit empty across Florida, 64,588 properties were in foreclosure last month, second only to Nevada, and real estate prices are still plummeting. State figures show that since 2007, permits have been granted for more than 630,000 new residential units and 480 million square feet of nonresidential space. In most cases the projects are still not built.” That was part of ‘All the News That’s Fit to Print’ in The New York Times on May 20.
In Hernando County, Hickory Hill, Sunrise and Like Hideaway subdivisions were given approval of over 10,000 housing units in 2007.
So now it’ll be up to taxpayers to foot the bill for the building of new and upgraded roads. You can be assured that come January 2011, just after the 2010 General Election, the three-penny Local Option Fuel Tax that was just voted down by the HCBOCC will be approved post haste. The estimated revenue of $1.8M will be desperately needed. Hopefully, the era of a paid county commission will soon come to an end and the savings of over $60,000 (plus benefits) per county commissioner can be redirected toward fulfilling the funding needs of the infrastructure. Any volunteers?
Where does that leave Florida Hometown Democracy, or has it already left the building of responsible, voter-approved growth all dried up in the empty water reservoirs throughout the state? In January I visited the official website just to see what’s up with the cause and found the initiative has a deadpan issue. Their efforts were, and are, needed but what are the chances of voter approval with fat-pocketed lobbyists ready to rehash the mistruths the first time around.
I can foam and froth and exhaust my fumes all day and all night but it’ll be for naught. The death of Florida’s natural wetlands, and the endangered species therein, is a forgone conclusion. The Southwest Florida Water Management District may as well hang up its soggy towel – it’ll dry up as quick as the water table of the Florida Aquifer.
Governor Crist’s bid for the U.S. Senate? Good luck with his efforts, but his signing of SB 360 creates a just cause for Marco Rubio to gain support to thwart Charlie’s seemingly assured nomination for the Republican Party.
The article on Ralph and Diana Salgado’s $21,600 bill for the 3.5 million gallons of water? I have not, and foresee no need to, flip to Page 6 to read more on the situation. It’s not important and the vision of my future in Florida is much too hazy.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Sloughing Off?
The coming year will see just how often I can actually contribute to this blog.
Generally, The State of Florida is wearing thin on my list of favorite subjects.
I shall NOT give in to the temptation of sluffing off on my obligation to make the most of what I feel is not interesting enough to write about. Florida isn't necessarily boring in itself - I'm just getting bored of it.
["sluffing" is phonetically correct and is an acceptable alternative spelling of "sloughing"]
Generally, The State of Florida is wearing thin on my list of favorite subjects.
I shall NOT give in to the temptation of sluffing off on my obligation to make the most of what I feel is not interesting enough to write about. Florida isn't necessarily boring in itself - I'm just getting bored of it.
["sluffing" is phonetically correct and is an acceptable alternative spelling of "sloughing"]
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